Dementia Support Line
Dementia-friendly resources
Make your local organisation dementia-friendly
Local organisations can make a big difference for people with dementia and their carers by making a commitment to become more dementia-friendly and taking action in three key areas: People, Process and Place.
From visiting a local high street to engaging with emergency services, each interaction for a person affected by dementia can pose unique barriers. But many of these challenges can be reduced by making some small changes.
People: awareness and training
Being aware of dementia and understanding how you and your employees can support both customers and colleagues will help to enable a more customer-focused environment.
Process: customer support and signposting
Living with dementia or caring for someone with dementia can be a particularly challenging experience. Supporting your staff, volunteers or customers through this time by changing your processes could improve staff retention, reduce costs and increase employee satisfaction and loyalty.
You can direct your staff and volunteers to Alzheimer’s Society’s dementia support service, which is free, easy to access, and puts people affected by dementia in touch with the right support.
Many organisations offer leaflets and information to their customers in addition to the information they share with their staff. You can offer support to your customers by sharing our resources.
View and print off or order from our full list of factsheets and information about dementia.
You can also review your staff policies to create a more dementia-friendly workplace. For example, you could look at the support you offer for staff who are living with dementia or carers, such as emergency and special leave policies.
Consider people affected by dementia when you redevelop new, or review existing, services and/or products.
You can also measure the experience of people with dementia when improving or creating new services or products, whether big or small.
Place: physical environment and wider community
Making a few small changes, such as ensuring clear signage within your premises, can significantly improve accessibility for many people — including those affected by dementia.
Undergo a self-guided accessibility audit to understand what small changes can be made to make your environments more accessible.
Not all changes need to be made at once. Make a plan of how you can start creating a more inclusive environment for people affected by dementia.
We’ve also produced a dementia-friendly environment checklist to help you make your space as inclusive as possible.
Ensure that signage within your premises is clear, easy to read, and prominently displayed. Use lower case lettering with good contrast between the text and the background to make it accessible for everyone. Consider using signage for exits as well as entrances.
Find out what activities are taking place in your local area in the dementia directory. It may be that you can promote these activities or offer your space.
Encourage other core local services and establishments to become more dementia-friendly. Share what you are doing on social media or within local networks and events.
Become a Dementia Friend to learn more about dementia and the small ways you and your organisation can get involved.
Find out how to become a Dementia Friend.
Do your staff need more in-depth or specific training on dementia? Find out more about all the external training we offer.